Wildlife and Cattle Production

It is often assumed and sometimes promulgated by anti-farming groups that all agricultural production comes at an environmental cost.  In our case, we have a great example of conservation and food production in a nice balance with mutual advantages. 

Our station is adjacent to Eighty Mile Beach – a vast coastline which is home to a number of migratory wader birds.   Despite its name the Eighty mile beach is approximately 230 kilometres long.  Many of these species migrate to the northern hemisphere to breed, often flying thousands of kilometres in a single journey all without complaining about the airline food.  The farthest journey from the Kimberley is to Siberia which is sometimes completed in a single journey. 

A few of these species feed on the grass plains of the station while seeking refuge on the beach during the hot part of the day.  The birds benefit from the presence of cattle as they keep grass shorter reducing potential hiding places for predators including birds of prey and feral cats.   Water points provided for cattle, can also serve as thermal refuges for the birds at hot times during the day. 

Three key bird species that forage on the grasslands but roost on Eighty-mile beach during the hottest period of the day are the Oriental Plover, Charadrius veredus, Little Curlew, Numenius minuta and Oriental Pratincole, Glareola maldivorum. 

The birds do a great job of reducing the burden of grasshoppers and thus benefiting pasture production.  In addition to being able to fly across the world, the birds appear to know where rain has fallen in Australia and thus the best places to feed. 

Being an extensive grazing property in the rangelands, inputs are minimal – no fertilisers or herbicides are used in cattle production.  Raising cattle in the rangelands of Australia is one of the most environmentally benign forms of food production in the world.  In addition to a light environmental footprint, pastoralists also perform a number of other important environmental services including the control of weeds and feral animals such as cats, wild dogs and camels.  The control of wildfires either by controlled burns or by extinguishing fires when they start is also an important environmental service. 

 

FURTHER READING

Hollands, D and C Minton  2012  Waders.  The Shorebirds of Australia.  Bloomings Books Pty Ltd. 

Rogers DI, CJ Hassell, A Boyle, K Gosbell, C Minton, KG Rogers and Clarke, RH  2011  Shorebirds of the Kimberley Coast – Populations, key sites, trends and threats.  Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 94: 377-391.